Who am I and what do I write about?
I am at heart a mommy who writes on the side.
But it took a long time to earn that title.
From the loss of my daughter to SIDS, the ups and downs of step-parenting my now 20 year old, to a long journey of infertility that culminated in my now 5 year old daughter arriving by way of IVF. These experiences are what drives my passion for writing about family.
Another passion of mine is writing about mental health.
As someone who lives with bipolar disorder, I have written about the various challenges that come from living with a mental health challenges. …
Social Media and Family
And it raises a lot of parenting questions.
Like many parents, I ask myself a lot of questions about what is appropriate or healthy for my daughter. Online behavior is one thing I think about on a regular basis. I ruminate on a lot of these questions, like…
Am hurting her to put my daughter online?
I’ve talked about my daughter’s obsession with YouTube and how it’s improved our lives.
But, I recently learned that what we are doing is content creation. My daughter and I work on her YouTube page and promote it with her TikTok account.
What we are doing is NOT professional quality at all. We are making NO money at all from…
It’s okay to have writing “seasons.”
It’s the summer, I’m happy, and things have been busy. These things are all intertwined. And it means I’ve put writing on hold. My writing output is in a dry spell. And I am okay about it. In fact, I think dry spells are good for writers.
I have learned to accept my dry spells.
In general, my writing output fluctuates for a number of reasons. And, despite ample, contrary writing advice, that fluctuation is okay. And maybe even good.
There a number of reasons for my dry spells. Some of those reasons might be more or less relatable to others. …
We’ve become consumed by hustle culture but there is another way
Hustle culture is all around us. Many of us are defined by hustle. Being a hustler is considered laudable. In fact, some argue you should have more than one side hustle.
We might even believe that success is impossible without “hustle.”
However, hustle culture can be detrimental to our mental health and become a roadblock to our goals. Despite the danger of hustle, it can be hard to let go of.
Just the word hustle is a problem.
Hustle in itself as a word implies hurrying up and making something happen. There’s an urgency to it that’s unsettling. …
It’s possible to feel joy again when you abandon the myth of mothering.
Motherhood is both an experience and a myth. It’s one of the most amazing, nerve-wracking, and life-changing experiences. But our lofty expectations also make mothering a myth.
When you grieve the loss of a child or have infertility, it’s a strange mix of longing for the experience and mourning for the myth of motherhood.
The challenge is to grieve the experience without getting caught up in the myth.
I know this challenge personally. One of the consequences of having infertility and loss of my first daughter to SIDS was my romanticizing motherhood. …
Writing a personal essay introduction doesn’t have to be hard.
When I was a writing professor, I often assigned personal essays to my students. These types of writing are also a mainstay on blogs, Medium, and in other online settings. And there are some key elements in a successful personal essay. The introduction is certainly one of them.
Introductions are just as important as headlines in capturing the reader’s attention. A headline gets you to click. But an intro draws you in.
The intro to the personal essay sets you up for the rest of the piece. It gives the…
The secret to success on Medium is to stop trying to be a success.
That probably sounds counter-intuitive. It might even frustrate writers who have worked to achieve a level of success.
But, focusing on external indicators of success like how many readers you have and how much money you make from writing is a dead end. It will never lead to happiness.
Maybe you’ll be a success in those terms. But it will never be enough.
The fact is, external valuation will never satisfy you.
And even when you achieve some measure of success, you will always be less…
Have you ever had a pandemic cheat day?
A day when you don’t have to think about the consequence of your every action.
A day where there’s no choice of…
Today Derek Chauvin was convicted and snow is pouring from the Missouri sky in April.
Maybe hell has frozen over. At least temporarily.
I didn’t expect George Floyd’s family to get any justice. Maybe I’m too cynical. Maybe this means things will get better. Am I still too cynical because I doubt that?
In terms of the snow, maybe it’s global warming? I can’t remember it ever snowing this late in the year here in Missouri. Certainly it’s odd because it was 70 degrees yesterday. …
Change your approach with a different perspective.
After taking a semi-hiatus from Medium, I’m a different writer.
I’m a happier writer.
And you can be, too.
Let me back up…
A year ago, I took a break writing regularly on Medium. This was after breaking $1500 last March. Unfortunately, my Medium income then plummeted for multiple reasons. Fortunately, this decline was a huge catalyst for personal growth.
A year later, I’m writing on Medium more frequently. But my approach has changed. In short, I’m a happier writer on Medium.
And you can be, too.
What inspired this change?
My circumstances at home changed and the world changed.
Basically, during the pandemic, I had my husband and step-son working from home…
